Montclair, NJ – Get ready to promenade across the long-anticipated Edgemont Park bridge!
The weathered steel bridge is getting ready for its closeup, scheduled for installation today. The old bridge was demolished after it became damaged due to Hurricane Ida.
Second Ward Councilor Robin Schlager has been working with township officials and the Neglia Group to get the bridge back in service and navigate the challenges that came with the project.
“It’s been a long haul! It’s taken so long,” says Schlager. “It’s been very frustrating with what should have been, one would think, something relativity simple, that was not after all.”
“But, here it is and I think it’s just wonderful,” Schlager says of the new bridge. “The natural wood color fits in aesthetically with the park. I have been told by the engineers and designers that, over time, the bridge should develop a beautiful patina.”
“It’s strong, it’s safe and it’s being installed with great precision and should last for many, many years to come,” says Schlager. “I guess it’s been worth the wait to finally get this beautiful bridge in our beloved park for so many to enjoy, especially now, at the beginning of the Spring season.”
The bridge serves to connect one side of Edgemont Park to the other, allowing access from Edgemont Park House to the rest of the park.
The delay in the bringing back the bridge caused one resident to joke about a ferry to get people to the other side. The bridge, out of commission for so long, it even got its own Twitter account.
Perhaps the new bridge could be named in memorial tribute to the late Perry Doerr, former Township Manager and Director of Parks & Rec, and frequent participant at LifeLong Montclair’s Senior activities held at the Park House?
It’s a nice thought, but I think Mayor Spiller already has dibs on it.
Worse comes to worst, the “Former Mayor Sean M. Spiller Bridge” does have a nice ring to it.
How about the Bridge of Sighs?
(for the obvious reason)
I like the new bridge design. I’m grateful for the aesthetics. It’s simple and reminiscent of some of the original wooden bridges of local Olmsted Bros designed parks. Thomas Edison was very involved with the concrete culverts, acquaducts and other built infrastructures of Edgemont Park, while some concrete prototype houses were being built in Montclair. (He owned Portland Cement) The cement structures never really looked in character for the Montclair landscapes.